• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.149-162
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• 2024

This study is a longitudinal study of female older adults living alone, one of the most vulnerable groups in our society, to determine how their depression changes over time and what factors affect their depression. At the same time, considering that there is a large difference in age among the same older adults, this study divided the female older adults into the young-old and the old-old to see how the predictors of depression in each group differ from each other. The main findings are as follows First, depression among female older adults living alone appears to have a declining pattern over time. In the conditional model, factors affecting the initial level of the depression trajectory among women living alone were found to be associated with lower initial depression values among those living in metropolitan areas rather than non-metropolitan areas, better subjective health, and those who did not exercise. Next, we examined the factors affecting rate of change (slope) in depression among female living alone older adults and found that the higher the age, the larger the metropolitan area, the better the subjective health, the less socializing, and the more socializing, the greater the decrease in depression level. Finally, there were some differences in the pathways affecting the initial value and slope of depression among female older adults living alone between the early and late older adults. Specifically, the higher the initial level of participation in social activities, the greater the change in depression among the late older adults, while there was no significant relationship among the early older adults. In the early older adults, better initial subjective health was associated with a larger change in depression than in the late older adults. Only in the late older adults did those who regularly exercised in the early years have higher initial depression values than those who did not. Based on the results of the above analyses, suggestions were made to reduce depression among female older adults living alone.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1661-1669
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• 2017

In 2017, Korea has reached 1.3 million elderly people living alone. The government is promoting the basic care service for the elderly by using care workers to check the security of the elderly living alone. However, due to lack of service personnel and service usage rate of elderly care workers, it is difficult to manage. To improve these environmental constraints, this study attempted to construct a monitoring system for elderly people living alone by using sensors such as temperature, humidity, motion detection, and gas leak detection. The sensor periodically collects the current status data of the elderly and sends them to the server, creates a real time graph based on the data, and monitors it through the web. In the monitoring process, when the sensor is out of the range of the specified value, it sends a warning text message to the guardian to inform the current situation, and is designed and implemented so as to support the safety life of the elderly living alone.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.113-133
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• 2024

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a community-based group singing program on the quality of life, loneliness, and depression among older adults living alone in the community. The study employed a one-group pretest-posttest design with 27 older adults who utilized community social welfare services. Participants took part in the community-based group singing program for a total of 12 sessions, each lasting 50 minutes, at a frequency of 1 to 2 times per week. Pre- and post-intervention assessments were conducted to measure changes in quality of life, loneliness, and depression. The program was structured into three stages based on the participatory process model of community music therapy. Stage 1 focused on fostering sense of community through music participation, Stage 2 aimed at developing group attachment through musical cooperation and mutual emotional support, and Stage 3 sought to enhance self-efficacy and self-actualization within the musical community. The results showed a significant improvement in the participants' quality of life scores (p < .001) and a statistically significant reduction in loneliness (p < .001) and depression levels (p = .001) after the program. These findings suggest that community-based music therapy program can be beneficial in enhancing quality of life and alleviating social isolation among older adults in an era of rapid population aging. The current study also presents evidence of the effectiveness of community-based music therapy programs for older adults in South Korea.

• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.251-252
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• 2017

핵 가족화, 고령화가 가속화되고 도시 독거노인 및 독신인구가 급증합에 따라, 외로움과 소외감을 극복하고 또 다른 형태의 가족적 유대감을 얻기 위하여 반려동물, 반려인들이 날로 증가하고 있다. 반려동물 문화는 급격히 발전하고 있는데 반해, 이를 지탱할 수 있는 사회나 문화적 의식과 공공 기반시설의 질적수준은 초기 단계수준이다. 반려견 소유자와 일반인들 사이에 갈등이 발생하여 관련 제도나 법에 대해 논란이 되고 있다. 갈등과 논란을 해소하며 반려동물 문화 발전에 기여하고자 본 연구는 도시 내 반려인 전용 주거 시설의 개념과 역할, 공동 주거 시설로서의 사회적 필요성을 고찰하고, 새로운 공동 집합 주거 공간의 방향을 제안한다.